written by Bailey, AllHabs.net
Dear Scott Gomez:
Gomez is a poodle-terrier mix. His father is a champion breed poodle, mother a…terrier. Of some sort. We’ve never been 100 per cent sure, but it’s there. I think there’s something else too. Wookie. Maybe.
Gomez is a really smart dog. I am sure that if he had thumbs, we would all be doomed. He has the ability to look at a situation and work it in his favour. He’s pushy, he’s a yapper. (Seriously, I am going to try and get video of him talking. He talks a lot. I call him Chewbacca.) And he’s been a great addition to our family, especially because three-quarters of us weren’t to keen on getting a dog to begin with.
Except my brother. He was the one who emailed me a picture of a tiny puppy looking up at the camera with an expression on his face that could make cherubs look like gremlins, saying ‘how can you resist this face?’ I couldn’t. He won me over.
Gomez is fast. If he’s up for a game of chase, chances are, you’re not catching him. He is constant with wanting to play. He nudges you when you aren’t paying him enough attention.
He’s fiercely loyal. As any dog owner will tell you — if you leave your dog for any length of time, you feel this sense of worry that they’re going to be sad or disturbed by the fact that you’ve left them. Yet, as soon as you come in the door, they bound to you and nip your fingers and kiss your face, and all is forgiven. Gomez knows that even though he gets left behind sometimes, we always come back.
He’s quirky. I will readily admit that I think our dog is OCD. He gets all out of sorts when the mailman brings the mail. If it comes through the slot, he freaks out and barks at it and has to rip it to shreds. However, if the mailman comes up to the house and he’s outside, he rolls onto his back and is happier than a pig in you-know-what when he gets petted. We’ve also just discovered that Gomez does not like printers. I think it has to do with anything that paper comes out of. It’s a good thing that we are not paper-makers.
If you don’t think that there is a point to this article — I’m getting there, I promise. Because you see, Mister Scott Gomez, while this might be a weird comparison, there’s a lot of what I see in my dog, that I see in you.
You’re a smart player. You have the ability to see a play before it happens. You manage to get pucks in deep, so that we have a chance to create some offensive push. Your tape-to-tape passing is some of the best I have seen.
You’re fast. When you are healthy, you have the ability to zip around the ice. You manage to be able to get into the offensive zone, and get back to our end, without much issue.
You have the ability to annoy players on the opposing team by being chippy, by fore-checking and by playing aggressive, but smart hockey.
From day one, you’ve been loyal to the Canadiens’ organization. Some people don’t see that, and I wish they did. You’ve always come out and been very positive of your time here, and how you want to be better for the team, and for yourself. You want to play here, and that is very much something I see. This can be a tough market, and a harder crowd to please.
Some only see the price tag, some fail to see the actual value you bring to the team and organization. What is so sad about this, is the fact that you become a self-fufilling prophecy. Most people want to see you fail – and that has to weigh down on a person. And they’re happy to see you fail. And you end up failing.
It happens. A lot. And more than people think.
Certain fanbases are far worse than others. They’d rather tear someone down, rather than seek out the facts and find out exactly what is going wrong. They’ll take rumours and lies, rather than the truth.
The fact of the matter is: none of us know what is going on in your head. None of us know the stress you’re under, or the pressure you’re feeling to perform. It can’t be easy, to be in the position that you’re in, and I don’t envy you at all. Money means nothing, if you’re not happy with the way you play. And it is easy to see, you’re not happy with the way you play.
But that’s just me.
So, while I totally made a face when my brother begged us to name our dog Gomez, I don’t regret agreeing to it at all. Just like I don’t regret coming out and standing up for you, in my own silly way. You have come to be a good asset to this team, and whether people realise it yet is up to them, but I have no problem having you on my team, Scott Gomez. And maybe at some point this season, others will too.